Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Pelargonium peltatum cultivar KLEP02038.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ivy Geranium plant, botanically known as Pelargonium peltatum, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98KLEP02038xe2x80x99.
The new Ivy Geranium is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Ivy Geraniums with uniform trailing and freely branching plant habit and interesting flower and foliage coloration.
The new Ivy Geranium originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1998 of a proprietary selection of Pelargonium peltatum identified as code number GU 001, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with xe2x80x98Klebluexe2x80x99, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/250,014, now abandoned, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar KLEP02038 was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the resulting progeny from this cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany since 2000 has shown that the unique features of this new Ivy Geranium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98KLEP02038xe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98KLEP02038xe2x80x99 as a new cultivar and distinguish it from other known Ivy Geranium cultivars:
1. Trailing plant habit.
2. Freely branching and vigorous plant habit.
3. Early flowering habit.
4. Red purple-colored double flowers.
5. Good tolerance to rain, wind and high temperatures.
Plants of the new Ivy Geranium are more vigorous and more freely branching than plants of the female parent, the selection GU 001. In addition, flowers of plants of the new Ivy Geranium are different in color than flowers of plants of the female parent. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium differ primarily from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Kleblue, in flower coloration.
Plants of the new Ivy Geranium can be compared to plants of the cultivar KLEP01042, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,161. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Stuttgart, Germany, plants of the new Ivy Geranium differed from plants of the cultivar KLEP01042 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium were larger and more vigorous than plants of the cultivar KLEP01042.
2. Plants of the new Ivy Geranium and the cultivar KLEP01042 differed in flower color as plants of the cultivar KLEP01042 had dark red-colored flowers.